Global Heatwave Persists as April Nears Record Temperatures

The world continues to bake under an unrelenting heat streak, with global temperatures in April holding near record highs, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Despite expectations that temperatures would ease following the end of El Niño conditions last year, the planet has remained stuck in a dangerous warming trend well into 2025.

“This year was supposed to bring a cooling phase, but instead, we’re locked into this accelerated shift in global warming,” said Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “We’re not entirely sure what’s driving it, but the implications are deeply concerning.”

April 2025 was the second-hottest April ever recorded in the Copernicus dataset, which compiles billions of measurements from satellites, aircraft, ships, and weather stations around the world. Alarmingly, 21 of the last 22 months have seen global temperatures exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels — the critical threshold set in the Paris Agreement to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change.

While some scientists had hoped the 1.5°C ceiling could still be avoided, many now believe it will be crossed within years. A recent study, though not yet peer-reviewed, estimates that global warming reached 1.36°C in 2024. Copernicus now puts the figure at 1.39°C and warns the 1.5°C mark could be breached as early as mid-2029 — or sooner.

“The reality is that we will surpass 1.5 degrees,” said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. “Rather than shift focus to 2 degrees, we need to fight for every fraction — 1.51, 1.52. Every tenth of a degree matters.”

Climate scientist Julien Cattiaux of the French research institute CNRS agreed that while breaching 1.5°C is likely before 2030, that’s no reason to lose hope. “Yes, the numbers are alarming. But this should spur action, not resignation.”

While the primary driver of long-term warming is the continued burning of fossil fuels, experts say other factors — including changes in cloud cover, air pollution levels, and weakening carbon absorption by oceans and forests — may be contributing to the ongoing heat surge.

The last two years, 2023 and 2024, were the hottest on record, and 2025 is on track to follow closely behind. “We’re still within what climate models predicted — but we’re pushing the upper limits,” said Burgess. She cautioned that more data is needed to determine whether this warming spike signals a new long-term trend.

While Copernicus climate records go back to 1940, scientists rely on deeper archives — such as ice cores and tree rings — to piece together a much longer history of Earth’s climate. Based on this broader evidence, researchers say the current warming period is likely the most extreme the planet has seen in at least 125,000 years.